


hit rewind, press replay

by i_dealized



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: and I'm writing it instead of finishing an English project, help this fic took over my muse, time travel au?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 11:03:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5002273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_dealized/pseuds/i_dealized
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let's get this straight - this is not some romantic comedy where does this huge cliche thing for her. It may not even be a love story. But it is a story, and it goes a little something like this: he kidnaps her, falls in love with her, kills for her, betrays her. And then he hits repeat. Sort of. </p>
<p>{Or, the one where FitzSimmons invents a time machine, and Ward changes things.}</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ward doesn't have time to think about it - he's checking the door, making sure the coast is clear. But as soon as he turns back there's a bang, and he feels the jolt of the bullets (four, if he can count right). He is thrown back against the wall, collapsing as she moves forward, brown hair swinging around her shoulders.

Her eyes are blazing, and she looks like a figure to be reckoned with, clad in all black. He can't see her eyes, but there's a hint of wryness in her tone as she speaks. "Never turn your back on the enemy," she says, stepping over him delicately. "You taught me that."

She doesn't turn to look at him as she walks away, gun drawn and ready. And she looks so different from the Skye he first met that it almost hurts to look at her - a wariness in her step, the guarded way she carries herself, too cautious.

No, the Skye he knew was bright and exuberant and impulsive - not this dark shadow of the innocent she used to be.

And, as he lays there, blood coating his hands in a slick, warm red, all he can think of is the day he first met her.

***

He wakes with a start, breath coming in a sharp, painful gasp. "Whoa, easy," a voice says, and as the world clears, a familiar face swims into view.

Fitz. The man stands at the foot of the bed Ward realizes he's in, looking older than the specialist remembers. He looks a little more worn, stands a little taller than the man Ward was used to. "What's going on?" Ward says, tongue heavy.

He takes in his surroundings, noting that they're in some sort of cabin. Simmons and Skye walk in through the open doorway, sharing a look with Fitz.

"He just woke up," the engineer says.

The two nod. And Ward realizes with a start that there is an air of unfamiliarity about them - something different that he can't quite pinpoint. Even though he hasn't spent much time with them in these last months - these are not the same three agents that he knew.

Skye looks at him, then. He notes that her hair is cropped short, that she holds herself taller, more confidently - but in her eyes is a different kind of pain, the kind that only happens when you lose something(someone) you love.

Before he can say anything, there's a flash of light outside the window and a crash. Skye swears, tossing an ICER to Fitz and another one to Simmons.. At last second she gives him a gun, too, before standing at the foot of the bed. Fitz and Simmons take up residence on either side of the doorway, ICERS trained.

The door to the cabin crashes open, and there are masked men coming in with guns - Skye's unarmed, though, and Wards wants to get up, to fight, but all he can do is watch as she raises her hands.The guns go off and Ward's ready to scream - but the bullets don't touch her. He can see the space in front of her *move* - the bullets deterred by some force than can barely be seen. They hang in the air for a moment before she propels them back, each finding home in one of the shooters.

"What the hell is going on?" He finally asks, finding his voice rusty with unuse.

Skye's lips twitch before she retreats back into the cold mask of an agent she's become. She takes a deep breath, holding a hand out and moving it slightly. The cabin shakes. "That's what happened after I shot you," she says.

"What - down in the caves?" Ward asks. "And that was two days ago?"

"Yesterday," Skye corrects. "For you, anyway."  Simmons shoots her a look, and Skye rolls her eyes before continuing. "Look, we don't have a ton of time here. We need you to do something, and you're going to do it. Understood?"

Ward takes a moment, drawing in all that he can with trained eyes. The three of them - Fitz, Simmons, Skye - look older, more weary. Skye's certainly changed, has a few more scars he can see peeking out from under the sleeves of her shirt. And then there's the way she stands - like there's this huge weight on her shoulders, like she's lost someone she cares about.

"Understood," he says.

"Then listen up," Skye moves to lean against one of the walls. "You're going to take this thing that Fitz will give you, and you're going to travel back in time. Change the course of things."

"Time travel? Are you kidding?" He asks, finding the idea absurd. But Skye glares at him, and he sobers. "Why? What's happened?"

"What hasn't?" Skye counters, bitingly. "Trip is dead. SHIELD caused a war with Inhumans. My father killed my mother who killed Reina and countless others, including Gonzalez. We teamed up once, but then you tortured our teammate. The Avengers had a Civil War. I built a team of Inhumans - someone built a team to resist that. They're winning the war, and they're going to kill every good Inhuman and human out there."

"And we need to get back to our time, now," Fitz says. "There's been a spike in Inhuman activity, they might attack the base. We've to to get back."

"your time?" Ward asks.

Skye looks at him with her shadowed doe eyes, no longer as bright as they used to be. "C'mon Ward, keep up. We're from six  years from now. We see how things play out, and we need things changed."

"But why me?"

"Because we're kind of keeping what remains of the world in order, and us coming here to help you is taking enough time as it is," Fitz snaps. "You have five days to get better - with the medication from our time, you should be good. In five days,  you're going to enter these digits into this watch, and we'll go from there."

Fitz places the watch like thing on the small table on the room. Simmons places three pill bottles on the table next to the bed, along with water. "Take one of each three times a day. We've already put another drug in your system - like the one we gave Skye when she was shot."

"'The place is stocked, and we'll see you in five days," Simmons says, cutting of Skye, who's mouth is open to interject. Fitz shoots her a look as Simmons takes his arms. He presses a button on his device, and they they disappear, leaving Ward shocked.

Skye hands him an ICER. "You'll probably want this." She steps into the other room, and from the odd thumps, she's probably moved the bodies outside.

"They're buried and taken care of."  She says nonchalantly when she comes back in, before leveling a steely gaze at him. "Five days, Ward." And with that, she clicks a button and disappears.

***

For the next three days, he doesn't do much. The drugs are working miracles on him - and by the fourth day, he's functioning almost normally. He tries to do some of his usual training, but twenty-something push ups in and his arms give out, his side burning.

He finds paper and a pencil, and begins to plan things out. He sets up a timeline, of his interactions with Skye, Coulson, the rest of the team. And then he goes back further - Garrett recruiting him into HYDRA, a meeting with Fury where he could have come clean about the entire thing. and the chance to talk to Coulson about HYDRA right when the team started. Two more memories pop into his head - when Garrett ordered Skye to be shot, and when Garrett demanded Victoria Hand be killed.

It takes him a while, but he makes his choice, circling the date in a dark, thick line before taking the last of the medicines Simmons gave him.

Sleep comes easy that night, if only because he's exhausted and the medicines are starting to make the world hazy again. But his dreams are restless, an ever shifting stream of possibilities that could have been.

***

Ward wakes as the sun's rising the next morning, checking the clock on the wall. He almost got a full eight hours, which is more than he's accustomed to. He figures he'll need it - he doesn't know how long this is going to take, after all.

After scarfing down leftovers from his meal the night before, Ward puts on the wristwatch, relieved when the face proves to be touch screen. He enters the numbers Fitz left on a slip of paper, feeling a sudden jerk reverberate through his entire body. His head begins to spin, the world grows hazy and - his vision goes black. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Date: December, 2020

When the spinning in his head seems to stop and his feet touch solid ground, Ward opens his eyes. He’s shocked to find he’s standing in a completely different room, with Fitz, Simmons and Skye looking at him.

“You made it,” Skye says, and although it’s meant to come out flat, Ward hears the faint note of surprise. He remembers a time when the three of them used to look at him fondly, or at least with the knowledge that he had their backs, always. It only makes him more sure of what he’s going to change.  

“I said I would,” Ward replies. “So what now?”

Fitz brings out a notebook. “We have a list of dates and locations. Your job is to pick one and start there. Change the course of events, but remember, you have to come back to this day, this time to see if anything has changed.”

“How, exactly, did you figure all this out?”

Fitz scowled at him. “Do you really want that explanation? We’ve wasted enough time already.” He sighs, scribbling something into one of the many notebooks they have scattered on a nearby table.  “Simmons is going to do a check up, Daisy has your gear ready, and I’ll explain some things before you go.”

Before he can ask who Daisy is, Simmons is ushering him to sit on a table. She checks his gunshot wounds in silence, and after glancing at his face once, whispers,” Skye, she goes by Daisy now.”

Ward’s facial expression doesn’t really change, but there’s a tic in his eyebrow that makes her know he heard. “You’re clear,” Simmons says, stepping back. She and Skye - Daisy  - exchange a loaded glance before the other girl sighs.

“Over here Ward.” Daisy jerks her hand, motioning toward the table. She looks distinctly uncomfortable, but continues anyway. “There’s a tactical suit for you, two ICERs, a couple dendrotoxin grenades, and two standard issue guns. Anything else you need, you’ll have to pick up yourself.”

She flicks a hand towards a door. “Bathroom’s there, I’d suggest you change soon, Fitz has a lot to say on time travel.” 

He changes into the tac-suit, and feels an overwhelming sense of deja vu at the sight before him. Skye - because that’s her name, not this tribute to a man who abandoned her - and Simmons leaning over a laptop, talking about something, and Fitz tinkering over some piece of technology.

 

Fitz looks up, motions him over. “You have the basic function of the time clock down?”Ward nods. “Good. Then you know the numbers are date, time, location. Wrong placement equals wrong location.”

He hands a notebook to Ward. “These are the events we’ve listed - anything we thought that could affect this timeline. Try one, then you have to come back to this time. That’s the important part - you have to come back here to see the outcome.”

Ward doesn’t argue, and the engineer continues. “We’ll note the minute you leave. Now, in the past, you won’t be taking the place of your past self. You and this other self exist, so to change things, it has to take both of you.”

Fitz rattles off a few more rules, before explaining that everything he needs to know is in the notebook. “Another thing, Ward,” the engineer says, and there’s something in his tone that make Ward look up at him. “You’ll be completely on your own. We won’t be able to help you - anything you do in the past affects the future, so this future, this present, might not exist when you come back.”

The door to the room opens, and Ward tenses. Coulson, May, and three other agents come into the room, and for the first time that Ward’s ever seen him, Coulson doesn’t have a suit on. He’s dressed in tactical gear, and where his arm used to be is a mechanical limb.  

“We have a problem,” he says. He pulls up a message on a holo table, projecting the image onto a large screen. It’s jumble of numbers, characters and letters that makes Ward’s head spin. “This message came in through one of our scouts, and our scouts never message unless something is up. S-Daisy?”

She mutters an “on it, D.C.” and heads for the nearest laptop, typing furiously on the keyboard. She swears, loudly, and as the message on the screen clears, Ward can see why.

They’re coming. Not a drill. Dark Inhumans on their way. ETA: one hour, at most.

Coulson turns away from the screen, running his good hand over his face. Everyone is silent, before May breaks the quiet.. “Coulson?”

The reaction is immediate, and Coulson pulls himself together, going into director mode. “Alright. They’ve found us, but we’ve expected that. May and I drew up a plan weeks ago.” He pulls out blueprints for the base, and Ward can see his handwriting all over the plan.

He dishes orders out - Daisy, Bobbi and Fitz to the armory, Hunter and Mack will set up inner defenses, and Simmons to the non-fighting Inhumans - before turning to Ward. “I know you’ve been pulled from your time,” Coulson starts. “You have no reason to fight with us. But you also have no reason to fight against us - I’m asking for the lives of innocents here, Ward.”

“I’m here to help,” Ward says, as honestly as possible. Coulson studies him for a moment, eyes boring into his, before giving a jerky nod and assigning him to go with Daisy, Bobbi and Fitz.

“May and I will join you shortly. We have some last minute things to do in case they get into the base.” Coulson pauses, taking the time to look at each of his agents (besides Ward). “All of you, be careful. Protecting this base is our objective, but I would hate to lose any of you.”

There’s a moment where their team exchanges loaded glances - Ward almost has to avert his eyes at the private moment. Then Coulson clears his throat. “So, today… no stupid moves. No taking lethal bullets for anybody. I don’t want to come back here with one agent of this team missing. Understood?”

The rest of the group mumbles answers, and Coulson repeats himself, his tone sharper. The agents all straighten up, answering him clearly. “Yes, sir.”

Coulson squares his shoulders, giving a firm nod that holds an unmistakable note of finality to it. Like this is the end. . “Then let’s get ready for this battle. We are  _not_ losing today.”  


End file.
